Car Engineer Richie Parker (Man with No Arms)

In May 1983, in the town of Beaufort, South Carolina, Richie Parker’s parents were told that their son was born without arms. Of course this kind of news would be a shock to any expecting parent, but Mr. and Mrs. Parker embraced their newborn son and decided he should have a childhood that was as similar to any other child as possible. Little did they know how much their love and actions would help shape Richie’s future and potential to succeed.

Mr. and Mrs. Parker encouraged Richie to take care of himself while growing up, making alterations to their home in creative ways so he could perform daily tasks. They encouraged him to ride a bicycle just like other kids and even supported him when he wanted to drive his own car.

“I always wanted to drive”, Richie admits.

Where there’s a will there’s a way, and the independence his parents instilled in him gave him the strength and courage to make it happen, even in the face of skeptics and neigh-Sayers.

Richie points out that in every step of his life he was faced with people telling him he couldn’t do things. When he told people he wanted to learn to drive, the sound, sensible advice people would give him was to just use buses and taxi cabs to get around.

Makes sense right? Well, not to Richie. As soon as he was close to legal driving age he had already picked out his dream car; a 1964 Chevy Impala SS. After a few alterations, he was driving down the road.

Eventually his love for cars and his determination to do what he wanted to do landed him a job engineering race car chassis and body components at one of the most winning organization in NASCAR, Hendrick Motorsports. This elite company provides engineering support for top ranking NASCAR racers such as Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., to name only a few.

And how does Richie do it? The way he does everything, with his feet.

We would like to tip our hat to Richie Parker. He is an inspiration and a hero in our eyes, and so are his wise and loving parents.

What’s our favorite quote from Richie?

“I don’t listen too much to people when they tell me I can’t do something. There’s not a whole lot that’s going to stand in my way.”